1. Romanian captain, Cristian Petre, who after suffering a 67-3 loss to England,  was asked by a reporter about the game and replied “I play rugby for happiness.”  More.
2. The French rugby team won the toss to choose who wears their own home jerseys in the Rugby World Cup Final and declined to wear their treasured ‘bleu’. Instead they felt it was right for Kiwis, as RWC hosts, should  wear their own colours.   More
3. Young Kerry Gaelic football Tomás Ó’Sé after the final whistle carried the ball as a souvenir to the Dublin goal keeper who kicked the winning point in 2011 All Ireland Gaelic Final. Caught on camera! More.
4. Former Somali refugee, Mohamed Farah, won gold for Britain in the 5,000 metres World Athletic Championships – making his new nation very proud while arch rival, Kenyan, Paul Lagat (representing USA) was the first to embrace him and congratulate him. More.
5. Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni showed honour when he allowed England’s batsman to be reinstated after being ‘run out’ because of a misunderstanding that the game had stopped for tea. More.
6. Vancouver’s Langley Elementary School children displayed true sportsmanship after Ice Hockey riots when they wrote to Boston school children to congratulate the winners, Boston. More.
7. Ex American basket ball pro, ex junkie and now coach, Chris Herren, is a true sportsman as he coaches children and encourages them to always have fun & enjoy their games. More.
8. The Indian & Pakistan cricket fans – arch enemies became friends for life as they shared the excitement & enjoyment of fierce competition as over one billion people watched the match on television.  One man offered to sell his liver … More.
9. 19 year old Japanese golfer, Ryo Ishikawa, donated all this year’s earnings to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.  More.
10. Irish rugby coach, Declan Kidney when asked about the illegal Welsh try that won the game said, that ‘while he felt extremely frustrated, he was not going to make an issue of it at a time when so many in the world were suffering. More.

I will tweet later our all time favourite single moment for 2011. Happy New Year  To One and All.  Say ‘Yes’ to Great Sportsmanship in 2012.

Although Munster, a province of Ireland, beat them way back in 1978, Ireland never managed to beat the Kiwis in over 100 years of trying (we did get a draw once).

So I sauntered off to Lansdowne Road, the oldest international rugby venue in the world, and stepped inside our shiny new Aviva Stadium, in the hope of maybe, just maybe, the dream might come true. Well here it is….my hazy dream captured on video…………………………..

All comments are welcome.

That 1978 Kiwi win over the Welsh was a pyrrhic victory – no real joy in that win. Diving out of a line-out attempting to get a penalty which won the game is as bad as Ronaldo’s diving antics when he was with Manchester United. Surely rugby should never degrade itself like this?

Spear tackling is far worse as it can break a player’s neck. And when two players do it on one player, off the ball, in the first minute of the first test match (2005 New Zealand), to the opposition’s star player (and captain), it is, plainly, a cowardly act . Would you want your children to do this? A friend told me that soon after the O’Driscoll spear tackle he heard a kid shout during a rugby match ‘get him, spear him’. Shouldn’t New Zealand RFU explicitly state that spear tackling is totally unacceptable. shouldn’t they suspend players who do it. Why didn’t the IRB do something?

Also shouldn’t referees issue more yellow and red cards for such life-threatening cheating? Do the Kiwis get the ‘rub of the green’ from refs (just like the major premiere League football teams seem to get the rub of the green on marginal decisions)?

Having said that I’ve played with Kiwis who were fantastic, hard, skilful, fast, real team players – a joy to play with. They never did any spear tackling or diving. They were just naturally brilliant players and winners. I’ve discovered that the great Graham Maorie’s All Blacks were fantastic sportsmen after the 1978 Munster defeat – in several ways (see Maori prayer for Dona Caniffe’s Dad; and at the after match dinner marching in on their knees singing ‘hi-ho’.

The Kiwis don’t need to cheat because they are absolute fantastic rugby players. I think, over time, they are the best in the world. Perhaps it’s that absolute desperateness to win that stops them winning big World Cup games. Too much desperation to win? Who knows? We admire the mighty All Blacks’ rugby and hope they will play true and proud rugby on Saturday on this, their first visit, to the Mecca of rugby – the world’s oldest international rugby venue with the world’s newest international stadium (see 60 second video tour).

And yes their truly brilliant captain, McCaw, lives on the edge – but so did Ireland’s brilliant Nigel Carr and Fergus Slattery and many wing forwards before and after him. I don’t feel they bring the game into disrepute like Haden, the diver, or the spear tackling twins. There is a huge difference between McCaw and Carr’s approach versus the divers and spear tacklers. Perhaps someone could help me to articulate the difference between the two?

Note: Tagu Umali did stop in the middle of match against Wales and arguably save Welsh player Colin Charvis‘s life a she lay unconscious.

Note: Mealamu cited for head butting England’s Lewsey last week – deemed not guilty.

Munster made history when they beat the mighty All Blacks by, what was in those days, an emphatic beating, 12-0.

Moments after the final whistle was blown, Donal Caniffe, the Munster captain, heard the news that his father had died suddenly . He left the stadium immediately. When the New Zealand Maoris heard the news they did a ritual prayer tribute in their dressing room and were joined by the non Maori team members as a tribute to Mr. Caniffe’s memory.

Do you know of any stories like this, where honour, nobility and humility take over from human dejection and despair which is sometimes suffered by losing a big match?

Another sportsmanship story from that famous 1978 game – All Blacks Snow Whites ‘Go On The Lash’.

Yet another sportsmanship story from the rich heritage of Munster v All Blacks games – ‘you could hear a dog bark’. 

I was in Cork visiting Marian Ormond the widow of Dennis to whom the book is dedicated. As I left she handed me a newspaper article which recorded a recent lunch time chat from some of the famous Munster 1978 side, one of whom is the flying winger and personal friend of the Ormond family, Jim Bowen. More than 30 years later, he revealed a sportsmanship moment I never heard of before.

The all conquering 1978 All Blacks became the first New Zealand rugby team to win a Grand Slam by beating Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. Their only defeat on that tour came against Munster. It remains to this day, the only time any Irish rugby team actually beat the mighty All Blacks. Graham Mourie’s All Blacks seemed invincible, until they stepped into a jam packed Thomond Park and met the mighty Munster men.

Wing forward Christy Cantillon scored a try and fly half Tony Ward kicked 8 points to register the Province’s 12-0 win over the world’s best. They even wrote a play about it called Alone It Stands, which has played to packed houses all over Ireland and overseas.

The All Blacks were fast, skilled, strong and very aggressive. Losing is not in their psychy. They play hard and fast. They play to win. And they do win. In the Northern Hemisphere, they are regarded as the best team in the world, regardless of who wins the World Cup. And on that tour they beat everyone (except Munster). Losing is not entertained. Munster winger, Jim Bowen recalls :”They were very gracious, although not initially. Certainly that night at the dinner they (All Blacks) came into dinner on their knees, linking each other, singing Hi, Ho…They were good characters.” Despite being the best in the world, they took defeat with dignity and good humour.

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Editor’s note: The Munster captain, Donal Caniffe was born in the general Hospital in Westmeath (Leinster) but the family were living in Dromod, Co. Leitrim (Connaught) and in his own words: “I’m claiming Leinster, Connacht and Munster lineage.”

The Irish Times 15 Nov 2008

This is an excerpt from an extraordinarily well written piece by a Kiwi, Martin Moodie, whose article captures the greatness of sportsmanship as demonstrated by the Munster fans. As the late, great Jack O’Donnell from St. Louis Missouri used to say “read this and cry”.